A good marketer is a great storyteller, a good writer, and loves to help people share their experiences and thoughts with the world. They are honest and don’t misrepresent themselves, their work, or their team. Good marketers write emails to get a response. Bad marketers lack empathy and think a half-truth brings a full measure of success. A bad marketer is in love with the sound of their own voice.
Good marketers know how to work across the entire team. They establish strong working relationships with product developers to understand their views of the product’s benefits, and how to differentiate themselves from their competition. They work closely with customer success to understand and define what delights their customers for each product. A good marketer works with the design team to improve their funnel and increase conversions based on research and data. A bad marketer uses the fact that they’re in a marketing role as an excuse to avoid having a technical understanding of their products. They make demands and refuse to listen to campaign ideas from the team because they are not “marketing professionals.”
A good marketer knows the marketplace and focuses their effort on the right target customers. They know who their competition is, but are obsessed with finding what works best for their intended audience. A bad marketer focuses on leads but doesn’t follow them through the funnel to make sure they’re bringing qualified leads. Good marketers believe in the product and want it to succeed, and provide feedback to developers and team leaders so they can better serve their target customer. A bad marketer insists their goals are unattainable because the competition’s product is better. They assume everyone knows about their features, technology, or methods. A bad marketer treats their industry as static and fixed.
A good marketer moves from stats to insight to action. They know how to make good decisions by using data, and know when they’ve found a needle in the haystacks of data that’s available. Bad marketers trust their gut instead of looking for data to back up their instincts. A bad marketer uses skewed data to set their own agenda. They use stats without context.
Good marketers know what channels are most effective for reaching their target audience. They understand marketing is not limited to pre-sales and consider how we interact and communicate with customers through every point of contact. Bad marketers make excuses. They say their budget isn’t big enough, or their competitors have a superior product without offering any thoughtful analysis or potential solutions.
A good marketer creates a marketing plan for each product and creates meaningful performance metrics to hold themselves accountable and create positive momentum for their team. A good marketer breathes KPIs and knows the important data from the fluff. Bad marketers constantly throw “pasta at the wall” hoping for an advertising hit without fully analyzing its potential and establishing what makes a successful marketing campaign.
Originally published at wildbit.com on April 7, 2016.
